Memo Emmys: Time to Give the Kids a Break

by Adam Buckman
FRANKIE Muniz - meet Fred Savage. You've got about as much chance of winning an Emmy Award this year as Fred did back in '89 and '90. And that's why the Emmys ought to establish categories for kid performers.

As one of the youngest actors ever up for an Emmy, Muniz's nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy is the most talked-about story of the twice-postponed Emmys, now scheduled for Sunday night at 8 on CBS. But history shows the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences isn't likely to give young Frankie an award over the other nominees - Kelsey Grammer, John Lithgow, Eric McCormack or Ray Romano.

A Muniz victory would be almost unprecedented. Of the few performers under 21 who have been nominated for prime-time Emmys in 53 years, only one winner could be found in a search of the Emmy Web site - Roxana Zal, who won in 1984 at age 15 for the TV movie, "Something About Amelia." That's a pretty abysmal record and not at all representative of the contributions kid actors have made over the years. And I'm not talking about Gary Coleman or any of the Bradys either. Unlike them, 15-year-old Muniz is a real actor. Somehow, kids as talented as he should be eligible for recognition by the industry without having to compete against actors more than twice their age and with twice the experience.

Take Fred Savage. At 13, the star of "The Wonder Years" was the youngest actor ever nominated for an Emmy, but he had no shot in the Best Comedy Actor category against Ted Danson, Michael J. Fox, John Goodman and Richard Mulligan. Mulligan, then starring in "Empty Nest," was the winner. The following year, Danson won. Melissa Gilbert was 16 when she was nominated for playing the young Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker" on NBC. Melissa lost to her co-star, Patty Duke, then playing the role of Anne Sullivan. Patty Duke herself was nominated in 1964 at age 18 for "The Patty Duke Show" and lost. Today, talented kids abound on TV.

One friend of mine can't stop raving about the kids on "Once and Again." And every family sitcom has a gaggle of children running around. Emmy recognition would help distinguish the truly gifted of these from the merely precocious. __ Pagesix.com (November 2, 2001)